THE Khemlani Group of Companies yesterday appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s Court to answer charges of electricity theft at its Tropical Plaza store in Kingston.

The company was represented by head of the group Suresh Khemlani, and manager for the Tropical Plaza store Anthony Periera.

According to the prosecution, on March 12 representatives from the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) along with a team of police officers went to Khemlani’s Tropical Plaza store where they allegedly discovered that wires to the rear of the building were illegally connected to a JPS distribution panel.

It is alleged that the JPS representatives found no meter or metering device attached to the wires, which formed a complete circuit and transferred electricity to the store.

The prosecution added that officials from the light and power company made further checks on the outside of the building and allegedly saw electricity wires from within the building connected to the JPS’ secondary lines, but had no meter or metering device attached to them. The light and power company then concluded that the store had an illegal electricity connection, termed a direct connection.

The store, court documents said consumed approximately 9270.6 KHW (kilowatts per hour) each month, equivalent to $166,860.00 per month. It was not immediately clear, however, how much money the Khemlani Mart branch owed the JPS for the alleged abstracted electricity.

The court documents added that utility bills for the Tropical Plaza branch were usually sent to the Khemlani Group head office along Constant Spring Road in Kingston.

The matter is scheduled to return before the court on May 17.